Nice to see you!

Three major events occurred for me last year (2010), all in the space of about 2 weeks. I turned 50. The following day I got married. Two weeks later, my oldest daughter became pregnant with her first child and my first grandchild.

Most middle-aged people will tell you that in their minds, they still feel 20 something. It's the same for me.

Wasn't it only yesterday that I was planning a night out with guys from the surf club? That gorgeous new perm. Flaired, cuffed denims and the red t-shirt with the off-the-shoulder frill. Corked platform wedgies. **sigh**

Suddenly I'm looking in the mirror and wondering how 30 years can flash by so damned quickly!

So here I am in cyberspace, sharing my genuine shock and horror with anyone who'll listen and maybe I'll even meet some other over 50s who find themselves in the same predicament!

Welcome to my dilemna!!

Saturday, February 28, 2015

Tales of Changing Lifestyles

Gaynor's story ...

All stories should start at the beginning. Mine started as a small child, who was consoled with sugar and celebrated with sugar. My mother had the sweetest tooth of anyone I knew, my father on the other hand, found eating a chore. He didn’t mind a baked dinner, but would be just as happy with a poached egg on toast, which was probably lucky, as mum wasn’t a good cook. Her words, not mine.

As a teenager, the sugar didn’t seem to have much effect on my health, I played sport, which kept me fit, and at 54 kilos, the figure looked OK in a bikini. I never really thought about what I was putting in my mouth, unless it was of course to drink Coke Spiders, or gobble down cobbers, milk bottles, jelly babies or any other lolly the local milk bar or tuck shop sold.

Soft drink was my drink of choice, and when, at the age of 20 I thought it more healthy to drink Tab (the only diet drink I knew of in the 60s), instead of Coke. I drank it by the gallon. I once drank 13 bottles in one afternoon, and when diet coke replaced it I then converted.

When I married, my husband was heavily involved with motor sports, so the netball, basketball, Vigaro ( a game like cricket) and swimming was replaced with hill climbs and short circuits, along with drag racing and gymkhanas. All sitting behind the wheel of a car.

After the first year of marriage, I had put on 20 Kgs. How did that happen? I thought it must be contentment. I did lose the 20 kgs when I wanted to fall pregnant, and did so by attending a weight loss program, and became a life member. Attending after each baby, only for it to go straight back on.

After 5 children, I had become a yo yo dieter. Going back to the weight loss program, then trying another where I did my dough, because I couldn’t come at the food, banana diets, soup diets and what not. I was overweight and unhappy. Still consoling and celebrating with food. I considered the family ate well, fresh fruit in children’s lunches, 3 or 4 vegies in the evening meal, but the portions were what a lumberjack could polish off.

Even at my age of 30, when my mum was diagnosed at 60 with diabetes it never occurred to me I was heading down the same track. By 40 I had ballooned to 80 kgs. If I mentioned weight, friends would kindly say you never weigh that much? You carry it so well. Maybe, but it was killing my knees.

By 50 I now weighed 85 kgs and was diagnosed as pre diabetic, severe arthritis, very little energy, and high blood pressure, but still I kept those lollies in the cupboard for the after dinner treats.
Mum also had come to live with us, and while I cooked appropriate meals for her diabetic requirements, I would disappear into my bedroom to gobble down 3 or 4 fantails and copious quantities of soft drink.

Then my husband’s aunt came to live with us. Heavens, I was now running a nursing home. The sweets became my consolation, just as they had been as a child. Alzheimer’s, diabetes, tablets, cancer, when would it stop? Gaynor, have another chocolate, oh while you are there, have another 2, to only then feel guilty for having done so. I was on a merry go round and couldn’t get off.

Even after these dear souls departed this earth, I still continued, I was now 89.6 kgs. I was 156cm, or 5 ft 1 ¾ inches. My husband jokingly referred to me once as a golf ball with legs. I was bloated and puffy, couldn’t manage a flight of stairs, felt generally unwell, lethargic with very little motivation. There were numerous health problems, including diabetes, high blood pressure, and others I won’t go into except to say I had myself dead and buried with one in particular.

Now, my eldest daughter lives with us and is a very good cook. She too had carried excess weight, but had taken herself in hand by first giving up sugar and soft drink before she found out about the Paleo way.

We sat one night chatting and she told me how much better she felt since following the Paleo Way of eating, which she had started while we were away on holidays. She mentioned Chef Pete Evans and I commented that he had never looked better, energised and lean. She told me he was on facebook, and encouraging people to follow his example doing Paleo. When she told me more, my immediate thought was “Oh I can’t give up carbs”’ I will have a HYPO. Well she said, “You can still eat carbs naturally, without eating 4 or 6 slices of bread a day, Mum”

Mmmmm, well I will give it a go, but I do have some reservations because of the diabetes. I was on 3 tablets a day, and thought I am going to have to be really sensible. The first hint of a HYPO and that’s it, NO MORE.

Well, the next morning, I was served Paleo pancakes with 100% maple syrup, mango and strawberries. No way, how could this be a better way of eating? Chicken salad for lunch, and a curry with of all things, cauliflower rice. Goodness had I died and gone to heaven? I did my BGL and even after 24 hours there was a very slight reduction.

The next day went well, followed by the next and the next. I was having a few nuts at morning and afternoon tea, but looking back, this was a security blanket, to make sure BGLs didn’t get too low.

After 2 weeks, I felt more energised and alive. I was sleeping better, noticed I didn’t have any aches or pains, and when I did my BGL, which had been usually about 8 or 9 on waking, was now late 4’s or early 5’s. I was honestly dumfounded. How could I be eating this delicious food with all the things in it that I had cut out years ago, because we were told fat free, light etc.

This was after 2 weeks, and when I got on the scales, I had lost 3 kgs. WHAT?

So then I wanted to learn more. I need some more recipes. I want to feel the way I do for the rest of my life. At the end of that 2 weeks, the thing that impressed me most, wasn’t the weight loss, or even how good I felt. The biggest thing was NO CRAVINGS. I hadn’t even thought about sweets.

After 6 weeks, I went to my diabetic educator, my BGL was in the sevens, which didn’t surprise me as it is a 12 week average. 6 weeks not on Paleo, and 6 weeks on, but according to her scales I had lost 4 ½ kilos. She was pleased and said I think we finally have you on the right track. I had not eaten any grainy bread that had upset my stomach for the past 2 years. I told her I was eating the Paleo way and she suggested I still keep a “watchful eye on the BGLs to be sure”.

As Christmas approached I convinced myself that a piece of Christmas cake wouldn’t hurt me. I cut the tiniest piece that would be an insult to a visitor. I didn’t enjoy it like I thought I would. When I popped the one chocolate I promised myself, into my mouth, I had to run to the bathroom for tissue. It was so sweet I thought I would be sick.

After 2 months, I was charging out of bed at 6 am after going to bed at 11.30pm. My energy levels were what I remembered as a teenager. My BGL was now excellent, compared to what they had been, and my diabetic educator suggested to my GP that he might consider removing one tablet. The high blood pressure I had since I was 43 was now a healthy 120/80. I was chuffed.

Every time I saw the post Chef Peter Evans put up, I commented. I wanted everybody to have what I was having. I wanted, and felt like I belonged to the tribe. When friends asked was I on a diet, I commented “NO just eating the Paleo Way” Some were interested, others told me there was no way they could eat that way. “I like my wine, beer, cakes etc too much” they would say. My comment was “I like my life too much” I am sticking with it.

I am now 5 months along, feeling energised, healthy, perfect blood pressure readings, great BGLs at all times of the day, no arthritic pain. I can move up stairs in a fast normal way, rather than bringing the second foot up to the first at each step like I had been doing and the bonus to all this is 15 kilos of weight gone. Compliments as to how good I look and how well.

I now only take 1 diabetic tablet and 1 blood pressure tablet. I have asked my GP to see what he can do to reduce them. My dearest and best friend gave the best compliment when she told me “Oh you have your little face back” Well, let me tell you, it isn’t only my little face I got back, I never thought I would enjoy such a healthy life again.

Yes, losing weight has given me a few more wrinkles, but I earned every one of them. For me, life didn’t start at 40, it started at 63 when I was introduced to the Paleo way. The bonus is the weight loss, but it comes second to the healthy way I feel.

I am grateful to my daughter and grateful to Pete for the encouragement he gives on his posts.

As the man who sells tea says “Try it you might like it, but you sure won’t be disappointed”.

To the sceptics I say, don’t write or comment until you have given it a two week try.

To those who want to try it and have many medical issues, like I did, do it under supervision. Do your research, get your medicos to work with you, start off easy if you must, but start, don’t put it off, it is all natural.

I want to shout Paleo from the roof tops. Good luck and clean eating the Paleo way.

********
I mentioned a few weeks ago that I wanted to start sharing stories from people who had changed their eating to Paleo. All of the stories are this long, because there is so much detail about their health conditions prior to changing the way they eat.

So I should probably only share one story every couple of weeks.

Gaynor shared her 'before' and 'after' photos on Pete Evans' fb page, but I decided that I wouldn't post her photos here. Take it from me .. a complete transformation!

There are literally hundreds of stories like this one and so far, I haven't found anyone (who has actually tried it) criticising it. Plenty of people have NOT tried it because they believe it is to restricting or too expensive. Most just don't believe that they can give up sugar or carbs.

I love the Paleo way of eating and I love the way I feel. I can't imagine ever going back. I know that in social situations, I can almost always find something 'close enough' and if not, I'm never so hungry that going without will be a problem. As Gaynor said .. no cravings! There was never a time in my life where I didn't crave either savoury or sweet. 

Before I developed my thyroid condition, I could eat bags and bags of potato chips day in and day out. After the thyroid condition, my body craved sugar .. lollies, ice cream, sugary and creamy pastries from the bakery, blocks of chocolate .. anything. But no more. No cravings. I don't even crave my beloved coffee anymore.

I'm off to do some study. My 'Study Smart' website has shut down for upgrades this weekend, so I printed as much information as I could, so that I can still do some of the study and the paperwork also lists the pages in my text book that I can read (so boring!). I hope the site doesn't have any glitches by the time it comes back up.

Nite all. 


Friday, February 27, 2015

Happy Friday

Just a quickie to share my Burrum girls with you.



It's Friday night. I drank wine. Totally against the Paleo program! I don't care.

I'm off to bed.

Nite all.


Thursday, February 26, 2015

Mixed Efforts

There was study.

Alkane Nomenclature.

Cycloalkanes.

Polymerization.

Halogenation.

Thiols and Thiolethers.

I know right?!

I learnt a lot of rules about compounds, isomers, molecular formulas, substituent groups, reactions of alkenes blah blah blah blah.

At the end of a couple of hours, all the rules ran into each other (in my head) so I'm going to have to go over and over and over them to make sure I have them clearly understood. Ugh.

Youtube might have to be my saviour again on this one.

There was cooking.

I made these tonight ...


Delicious as they are, they melt very quickly, so you have to eat them fast. I filled them with chopped cashews, pepitas, sunflower seeds and pistachios. I think it would be nice to add raisins or cranberries to the mix.

Tomorrow morning I hope to make some more energy balls for Adoring Husband to take away with him on his training course this weekend.

I made another two weeks worth of dog food today with kale, silverbeet, celery, pumpkin, turnips, eggs with the shell, coconut oil, chicken mince, beef mince and spirulina. All raw except for the pumpkin.

Dinner for AH was stuffed flat mushrooms and stuffed capsicum.

There was cleaning .. half-hearted.

There was fighting with the printer that didn't want to print with any photo paper except it's own brand. That's annoying!

It looks like I might get another early night tonight! Woot .. Woot!

Nite all.

Wednesday, February 25, 2015

Day of Rest

No study today.

It was our monthly ladies luncheon and we all caught the courtesy bus to Torbanlea, just a 15 minute ride away.

The Torbanlea Pub has a nice atmosphere and is very quiet during the day. It's a 'no frills' kind of place and of the few times I've been there, only once have I been disappointed.

They, apparently, are under new management since the last time I was there and unfortunately, the bistro doesn't cater to coeliacs, so my only option (due to my gluten and fish allergy) for lunch was steak and salad. Everything else was crumbed or battered, even the chips.

The steak was tough and luckily I still have my own teeth with which to chew, so I powered my way through about half of it. That aside, I had a nice time with the other ladies who attended.

I really wasn't that hungry anyway .. that's another of the great things about Paleo eating. I rarely feel hungry and there are no cravings. My mother once told me "we eat to live, we don't live to eat!" I understand that now, more than ever. I could easily be satisfied eating just once a day.

Another confession .. I shared 2 bottles of wine with Mardi and Lady Lynn .. with hindsight .. that made up for the crappy steak!

Here we are at the end of February and our flickr photography challenge this month is 'Nostalgia'. I still haven't come up with a photo and I have no ideas.

I thought about taking a photo of a vintage camera next to some old black & white photos and a very old album, but I went into flickr to look at what some of the others had done and there is already a photo of someone browsing through some old black & white photos, so that idea for me, is out the window.

I have three days to come up with something .. so if you have any ideas, please feel free to share! I have until midnight 28th Feb to submit.

So I'll leave it with you then!

Nite all.


Tuesday, February 24, 2015

Missed Sunset

By the time I got my camera gear organised and ran out the front door, the sunset was almost gone.


I wish I'd been able to get down to the river for a better shot.

More study today. As much as I want to list all the stupid words that I learned today, I am going to spare you the torture, and I'm not even going to share the structured formula for Propane ... yeah, I can tell that you're disappointed about that.

I must say that my brain is pretty relaxed and is absorbing information well. Feeling ok about Chemistry right now. I hope it lasts.

My hopes for an early night last night kind of fell by the wayside when one of my favourite shows started the new series .. 'Parenthood'. I don't know why I didn't just record it. It started late at night and I stayed up til after midnight watching it!

Tonight, 'Grey's Anatomy' is on, but I AM recording it, so I'm off to bed now!

Nite all.

Monday, February 23, 2015

Delishioso

The recipe as promised ...

Apple Crunch/Crisp

Ingredients for the topping:

1/4 cup almond meal or almond flour
1/4 cup finely shredded coconut
3/4 cup chopped walnuts
3/4 cup chopped pecans
1/3 cup extra virgin coconut oil
3 T muscovado or rapidura sugar (the molasses flavour of these sugars really works in this topping)
1/2 t nutmeg
1/2 t all spice
big pinch of salt

  1. Mix the nuts with the almond flour, shredded coconut, sugar, salt and spices.
  2. Pour melted coconut oil over the top and stir to combine. Pat down slightly and refrigerate for 20 minutes to an hour, to harden.
Ingredients for the apple part:

6 Medium green apples.
1 t finely grated lemon zest
2 T lemon juice
1/2 t cinnamon
1/4 t cardamom

  1. Preheat oven to 180C
  2. Peel and core apples, then cut into bite sized pieces.
  3. Toss the apple with the lemon juice, lemon zest, cinnamon and cardamom.
  4. Place the apple in the bottom of a 9" casserole dish.
  5. Remove the nut mixture from the fridge and crumble it over the apple, making sure there are a few chunky bits.
  6. Bake for 40 minutes then turn up the heat to 220C and cook for a further 5 mins to brown the crisp, but don't let it burn.
  7. Remove from the oven and serve warm with coconut cream, or pure cream, or ice cream or even custard.  Those of us on Paleo would go with coconut cream.


The nutty topping is lovely and crunchy and the apple mixture is still quite crisp. This dessert is not too sweet and is very healthy.

Tonight I made a roast chicken by mixing 5 minced garlic cloves with butter and chopped parsley and then filling the space between the skin and the meat over the breast with it. I chopped up half a lemon into 4 pieces and put them inside the chicken, then baked it in the oven for 90 mins.

I poured the juices that oozed out of the chicken, into a container, then I browned some tapioca flour in the bottom of the pan and then added the juices back into the pan. So flavourful and went beautifully with the chicken and the roasted turnips, beetroot, sweet potato, red capsicum and onion.

Food glorious food!

Today I've been studying about solutions, solvents, molarity, solids/liquids/gas, intermolecular forces, colloids, osmosis, the Octet rules, organic structure, covalent and ionic bonds blah blah blah blah blah.

My lecturer sounds exactly like Julia Gillard, only she has a very sad sense of humour that I really don't feel amused by and I find myself rolling my eyes often during the lectures. Sometimes I wonder if she thinks we are all 5 years old because she can be quite patronising and uses a childlike voice to explain some things.

Anyway, I do know that when I complete my studies, I will be giving her and the institute some much needed feedback about some of her techniques, especially the amount of time she wastes at the beginning of her lectures trying to get microphones working for everybody present online.

When the lectures are 'live', it's understandable, but when she puts the recorded lectures up for us to download and listen to, she should be deleting those parts. It drives me bonkers.

The weather is stinking hot and humid, so I've been locking myself inside the house with the air con steady on 25C and the column fan blowing directly on me. Very comfortable.

I've enjoyed a couple of early nights (by early, I mean BEFORE 11pm) and I think I'd like to make it a habit. Let's see how I go.

Nite all.


Sunday, February 22, 2015

Sugary Surprises

Remember all the things we've been taught about fat for the last 40-50 yrs? Forget it.

Replace the word 'fat' with 'sugar' and you have the actual truth about what is good and what is bad.

Animal fats, butter, pure cream, avocado, macadamia and pecan nuts, coconut oil/milk/cream/butter .. all good for you and will help you lose weight and get healthy by improving your body's ability to absorb and use the nutrients in the good food that you consume.

Processed/polyunsaturated, canola/vegetable/sunflower/peanut/corn/soy oils are BAD, even though they have the healthy heart tick of approval (don't even get me started on the healthy heart tick!!)

When you cook with polyunsaturated vegetable oils (such as canola, sunflower, rice, peanut, corn, and soy oils), oxidised cholesterol is introduced into your system. As the oil is heated and mixed with oxygen, it goes rancid. Rancid oil is oxidised oil and should NOT be consumed—it leads directly to vascular disease.

Good oils for cooking are avocado, macadamia and coconut oils. Olive oil should be used cold, for salad dressings or for pouring over your cooked meals ... you know how the good chefs on TV drizzle that yummy oil over the finished product?

Now for the sugar.

Glucose is the form of energy we are designed to run on. Every cell in our body, every bacterium—and in fact, every living thing on the Earth—uses glucose for energy.

These days, instead of glucose being added to foods, fructose (a chemical imposter) is easier, faster and cheaper to add to all processed foods. 

Your body metabolises fructose in a much different way than glucose. The entire burden of metabolising fructose falls on your liver.

This chemical imposter is responsible for your insulin resistance and weight gain.

Elevated blood pressure.

Elevated triglycerides and LDL.

Depletion of vitamins and minerals.

Even gout, heart disease and liver damage?

I would love to explain the science of it and how it effects your body, but there is no way to describe it using terms that you could comprehend. You would quickly skim over it trying to get to the end!

You should be checking the ingredients in every packaged food that you buy. 







Interesting huh?

If you get the chance to see "That Sugar Film" which is currently making the rounds of Australia, but only in limited non-mainstream cinemas, please do it. The nearest to me is Brisbane or Gold Coast, so I won't get to see it, however, I've seen a few different previews of it and if it ever becomes available to buy, I will most definitely get myself a copy!

The alternative is to buy "That Sugar Book" by Damon Gameau. Check out the link for the storyline.

I'm off to cook dinner. I've got chicken breast out, but I'm not sure what to do with it yet.

I made little bacon and egg muffin-ie things for lunch and then "apple crunch" to have for dessert tonight (ok, so we had to have a serving at lunch time too!). Hopefully, I'll remember to post photos of the process tomorrow .. and I'll definitely share the recipe. It's delicious!

Nite all